MAG Aerospace and L3Harris will use Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft for ATHENA-R. (Photo: L3Harris)
Integrated on Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft, the system will help the army meet global intelligence requirements. Operating at high altitude will provide the aircraft greater survivability and LoS, both essential to help the army achieve its long-range precision fires modernisation priorities.
Designed to close the gap between the army’s medium- and high-altitude ISR aircraft fleet, the ATHENA-R programme will provide greater endurance, more payload capacity, longer stand-off ranges and leading-edge sensor technology in support of US combatant commands.
The US Army announced during the AUSA exhibition in October 2022 in Washington DC that it would launch a tender for ATHENA-R, with aircraft to be supplied on a contractor-owned, contractor-operated basis.
AUSA 2022: MAG Aerospace and L3Harris propose converted commercial bizjet for US Army airborne ISR
MAG Aerospace is currently the prime contractor for the army’s Sensor Technology Operations and Readiness (STORM) contract.
Besides winning a contract in September 2022 to develop Phase 2 of the army’s Multi-Domain Sensing System program, L3Harris supports an additional army ISR mission: the Airborne Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare (ARES) aircraft.
Clavister CyberArmour, an integrated defence cybersecurity system, will be used on BAE Systems Hägglunds’ CV90 platform in deployments with a Scandinavian country, as well as in an eastern European nation.
The tactical satellite (TacSat) is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system and will participate in exercises in 2025.
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
Why space is an essential part of modern military capabilities
Defence-secure mixed reality headsets can save hours, or even weeks, of travel time to fix defunct equipment or get subject experts effectively “on-site” where they are needed.
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